SPINE Festival LITE: 3 – 31 March 2022
SPINE Festival is for children and families and returns in 2022 for a LITE edition!
In 2022, the lite festival’s theme is ‘KINDNESS’ and launches on 3rd March 2022, World Book Day, taking place throughout the month across libraries situated at the heart of London’s communities, both digitally and in-person. The free programme of spoken word and arts activities features a six week Discover Arts Award Telling Tales creative writing workshops programme for 7-11 year olds, tour of playful Half Moon Theatre ‘Dollop & Crinkle’ show, and exciting local artists events.
Though it’s lite (as in, it’s on a smaller scale from previous years), SPINE inspires and empowers children, families and communities with a varied programme of workshops and shows across 16 London boroughs. More to be announced on the lite festival’s artists.
To celebrate the launch of SPINE LITE, as well World Book Day, we comissioned this delightful blog from Joseph Coelho – all around his latest book Poems Aloud and how to use poetry to inspire children.
More about SPINE LITE
In previous years, the festival has been quite large and has run for a few years now. The vibe in recent years has been slightly different as some of the events took place online due to government restrictions. We felt this didn’t affect the magic of SPINE festival and thought we’d share with you what SPINE means to us (Apples and Snakes) and to the communities that take part.
We interviewed Sarah Smith from Brent Libraries so you can get to know the festival a little better. Read the interview in this blog post.
Where is it taking place?
SPINE LITE Festival 2022 takes place in the following London boroughs. To check out what’s happening in your borough, contact your local library.
Brent ● Bromley ● Croydon ● Ealing ● Greenwich ● Hammersmith and Fulham ● Islington ● Kensington and Chelsea ● Lewisham ● Merton ● Newham ● Southwark ● Sutton ● Tower Hamlets ● Wandsworth ● Westminster
Events for SPINE LITE
We’ll keep updating this list going forward so keep checking back!
Thu 3 Mar | Colliers Wood Library – ZooLab: Zoo on a Broom
Wed 9 Mar | Walworth Library – Improv with Pillow Talk Theatre
Sat 12 Mar | Hammersmith Library – Storytelling: Hom
Sat 26 Mar | Hammersmith Library – Storytelling: Wonder
Tue 29 Mar | Mordon Library – Comic (Manga) Workshop
The Cat-Astrophic Adventures of Dollop and Crinkle – Theatre Showings
This delightful play runs for 1hr and will be showing in the following boroughs on these dates. Please contact your local library to find out more detail. Most of the shows are drop in. We’ll keep adding to this list so do check back!
3 Mar | 10.30-11.30 Ealing | 13.30-14.30 Brent
4 Mar | 10.030-11.30 Newham | 13.30-14.30 Tower Hamlets
5 Mar | 11.30-12.30 Islington
14 Mar | 10.30-11.30 Lewisham | 13.30-14.30 Southwark
15 Mar | 10.30-11.30 Kensington & Chelsea | 13.30-14.30 Westminster
16 Mar | 10.30-11.30 Greenwich
17 Mar | 10.30-11.30 Merton & 13.30-14.30 Wandsworth
18 Mar | 10.30-11.30 Croydon |13.30-14.30 Bromley
19 Mar | 10.30-11.30 Hammersmith and Fulham
Libraries are creative spaces at the heart of London communities. They are free and open to all, and a great way to engage with and experience art and culture.
Previous SPINE Festivals
2021
In 2021, the festival’s theme is ‘EMPATHY’ and launches on 1 June, World Children’s Day. With a varied programme of events, performances and workshops, SPINE Festival inspires and empowers children, young people, and communities across 16 London boroughs.
Check ou the Artists in Residence from 2021. They were paired to two boroughs each:
Dan Mayfield/Lalia Nadia Sumpton
Linden Katherine McMahon/Victoria Fifield
2020
In 2020, SPINE Festival saw over 160 events delivered across 17 London boroughs, bringing together local communities to creatively explore the theme of ‘Our World’.
We’re really proud of the work the artists produced last year and we think it’s a great resource to keep coming back to:
Each year, SPINE Festival also offers a host of activities specifically for local school and community groups.
Produced by Apples and Snakes in partnership with Brent Library with support from John Lyon’s Charity and (previously) Arts Council England. We also would like to thank library authorities across London.
Photo credit: Suzi Corker
